16 December 2014

Cardinal Burke: "Do not give way to discouragement."

On Thursday, LifeSiteNews presented Cardinal Raymond Burke with a handsomely bound book signed by over 29,000 people who had expressed their thanks for the cardinal’s Vatican service, and pledged to pray for him and to follow his example.

The cardinal expressed his “deepest gratitude” for the show of “support and most of all for your prayers.”

An online petition of support for the Cardinal Burke, one of the most unequivocal pro-life and pro-family voices in the Catholic Church, was launched in November by LifeSiteNews after the Vatican announced that Pope Francis had removed him from his position as the prefect of the Vatican’s Apostolic Signatura. Burke was demoted to the position of patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, a largely ceremonial role.

“We must all now, going forward, remain united in our Lord Jesus, defending the truth of our faith, especially with regard to marriage and the family,” said Burke after being presented the pledges by LifeSiteNews editor-in-chief John-Henry Westen. The exchange took place at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse, Wisconsin on Thursday.

“We can be confident, even though things can seem rather dark to us, that if we cooperate with God’s grace, and are true defenders of the faith and promoters of the truth about marriage and the family, that Our Lord will not be lacking in his grace for us.”

“Of course, the victory is always his in the end. Let’s remain steadfast and not give way to discouragement,” the cardinal said.

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“We must look to Our Lord himself who had to suffer and die for the sake of the truth and so too we have to be ready to accept whatever suffering comes our way in defending the truth of our faith, especially the very sacred truth with regard to God’s plan for man and woman in marriage from the very beginning,” he said.

A Day That Will Live in Glory

Pray for the Four Cardinals: Burke, Caffarra, Meiser and Brandmuller

“You are the ones who are happy; you who remain within the Church by your Faith, who hold firmly to the foundations of the Faith which has come down to you from Apostolic Tradition. And if an execrable jealousy has tried to shake it on a number of occasions, it has not succeeded. They are the ones who have broken away from it in the present crisis. No one, ever, will prevail against your Faith, beloved Brothers. And we believe that God will give us our churches back some day."